Floor latch strip for railway cars



J. 21, 1969 J. 5. LUNDVALL ETAL 3,422,773

FLOOR LATCH STRIP FOR RAILWAY CARS Sheet Filed Dec. 5. 1966 FIG. 4

FIG I INVENTORS JOHN S. LUNDVALL RUSSELL M. LOOMIS HENRY D BREENATTORNEYS J n- 2 1969 J. 5. LUNDVALL ETAL FLOOR LATCH STRIP FDR RAILWAYCARS Filed Dec. 5, 1966 Sheet FIG. ll

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WTI H V S .L l v N E Y J I. N S R rwl wwm A v j ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent C) 3,422,773 FLOOR LATCH STRIP FOR RAILWAY CARS John S. Lundvall,Park Ridge, Russell M. Loomis, Palos Heights, and Henry D. Breen,Chicago, Ill., assignors to Uuarco Industries, Inc., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Dec. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 599,296 US. Cl. 105376 7 ClaimsInt. Cl. B6111 17/00, 45/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In afreight-carrying body having latch strip means in the floor forpositioning cooperation with latch pins of a lading separator movablewithin the body, an improved latch strip structure, that is more readilycleaned of dirt that enters thereinto, is provided by an elongatedstructure which provides a plurality of open-topped pocketslongitudinally arranged and adapted to receive the latch pins of thelading separator and having upwardly and outwardly inclined wallsextending from the lowermost portions of the pockets to the uppermostportions of the latch strip, the inclined walls providing assistance forsweeping dirt out of the latch strip structure.

This invention relates to a floor latch strip for railway cars, and moreparticularly to a sanitary floor latch strip which can easily becleaned.

In railway cars equipped with lading separators it is customary tosecure the lading separators or door in place by latching pins extendingfrom the upper and lower edges thereof and engaging openings in latchingstrips or tracks in the car. The floor latch strips tend to collect dirtand become unsanitary so that the strips conventional constructioncannot properly be used in cars used for transporting food of varioustypes and similar materials.

It is accordingly one of the objects of the present invention to providea floor latch strip which can easily be cleaned to maintain it insanitary condition.

Another object is to provide a floor latch strip formed with lockingrecesses which are open at all times so that they can easily be cleaned.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be morereadily apparent from the following description when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a transverse perspective view of a railway car embodying theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one form of floor latch strip;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sections on lines 3-3 and 44 respectively of FIG. 2;

.FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the track of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a partial view similar to FIG. 5 of an alternativeconstruction;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal section of the track of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of an alternative floor latch strip;

FIG. 9 is a transverse section on the line 9-9 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal section of still another form of floor latchstrip embodying the invention;

FIG. 11 is a section on the line 1-111 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of still another form of floor latch stripembodying the invention; and

FIG. 13 is a section on the line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, the invention may be incorporated in a conventionalrailway car having spaced sides 10, a ceiling 11 and a subfloor 12. Thesubfloor may be covered by flooring material such as the planks shown3,422,773 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 at 13, although any other desired typeof flooring may be employed.

The car is separated longitudinally into compartments by a separator ordoor 14 of a size substantially to span the width and height of the car.The door 14 is supported for movement in the car on tracks 15 mountedadjacent to the junctures of the side Walls and ceiling of the car andwhich are formed in lower horizontal flanges thereof with latchingopenings 16. The separator 14 is similarly latched adjacent to the floorof the car in floor latch strips 17 formed in their upper surfaces withspaced latching openings 18. The parts as so far described, with theexception of the floor latch strips, are conventional.

The floor latch strips as shown particularly in FIGS. 2-5 are in theform of integral castings with upper flat strips 19 which are reinforcedat their edges by downwardly turned flanges 21. At spaced points intheir length, the upper strips 19 are depressed downwardly to definerecesses as shown at 22 which have flat bottoms 23 and side walls 24sloping upwardly at an acute angle to horizontal. The sides of therecesses are closed by flat vertical walls 25 against which the latchmembers carried by the separator may abut to hold the separator securelyin selected position.

Adjacent to their ends, the strips are formed with deeper recesses 26whose flat bottoms are formed with openings 27 to receive screws orsimilar securing means to secure the strips to the subfloor of the car.These flat bottoms are joined by sloping side walls 28 with the upperflat strip 19.

With the strips secured in the floor of the car, the upper flat strip 19is substantially flush with the top of the flooring 13 therein. Inusethe latching pins or similar members carried by the separators may enterany of the recesses 22 or 26 in the usual manner to latch the separatorsecurely in place. When it is desired to clean the floor latch strips,it will be noted that the tops of the recesses are always open and thatthe sides thereof are sloping so that any dirt collecting in therecesses can be swept out or can otherwise be easily removed therefrom.

The construction shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is generally similar to that of'FIGS. 2-5 except that the strip is formed of sheet metal rather thanbeing cast. In this construction the flooring members 13 are cut awayadjacent to the side walls of the car as seen in FIG. 7 to leave an opentop recess 29. A strip 31 of sheet material is secured over the recessand is formed at spaced points in its length with depressed portions 36defining spaced recesses 37. These recesses as seen in FIG. 6 are formedwith straight vertical side walls 38 securely to engage the latch pinson the separator.

As shown, latch members 39 carried by the separator may extenddownwardly into the recesses 37 and are preferably shaped as seen inFIG. 7 to occupy substantially a full recess for maximum strength. Withthis construction as with that of FIGS. 25, the recesses can easily beswept or cleaned out to maintain sanitary conditions at all times.

The floor latch strip as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 comprises a channelshaped strip of sheet material having fiat horizontal side flanges 41 tolie substantially flush with the flooring in the car and which may besecured thereto. The fiat bottom is connected by sides 43 sloping at anacute angle to horizontal to the upper flanges 41.

Transverse latch pin engaging members are formed by a corrugated strip44 extending vertically from the flat bottom 42 of the channel strip andsecured thereto by welding or in any other desired manner. Thiscorrugated strip comprises transversely extending side members 45between which the latch pins carried by the separator may fit and whichthey may engage to secure the separator against longitudinal movement inthe car. With this construction as with those of FIGS. 17, it will benoted that the recesses in the top of the floor latch strip are open atall times, including the side openings in the channel shaped strip, andthat the sides of the channel are sloping at an acute angle to thehorizontal so that the entire strip may be easily swept out or otherwisecleaned.

In the construction of FIGS. and 11, the channel shaped strip is definedby two angle plates having vertical flanges 46 and horizontal flanges 47which may be secured to the subfloor 12 of the car by fastenings such asscrews 48. A corrugated strip 49 which extends horizontally may extendbetween the vertical flanges 46 and be secured thereto by welding or inany other desired manner. The channel shaped strip 49 provides a seriesof spaced recesses 51 in which the latching pins of the separator may bereceived to latch the separator securely in position longitudinally ofthe car.

As with the previously described embodiments, the recesses 51 are alwaysopen at the top and are otherwise closed so that any dirt falling intothem will be retained and can easily be cleaned therefrom.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the floor latch strip isformed by a channel strip 52 having vertical parallel sides and ahorizontal bottom which may rest against and be secured to the subfioor12 by fastenings such as screws 53. At the upper edges of the sideflanges the channel is turned in at spaced points to define inwardlyprojecting lugs 54 which are spaced longitudinally of the channel. Theseinward projections 54 are of such a length as to leave a substantialspace between them through which the channel may be swept out orotherwise cleaned.

For use with a floor latch strip of this type, the separator wouldemploy generally rectangular latch pins as shown in section at 55 inFIG. 12. It will be noted that these pins may fit into the spacesbetween the inwardly projecting lugs 54 and will engage the edges ofthese lugs to latch the separator securely against longitudinal movementin the car.

What is claimed is:

1. In a freight-carrying body having in the floor thereof latch stripmeans adapted for positioning cooperation with latch pins carried by alading separator movably disposed in said body, the improvement of alatch strip means that permits more readily cleaning thereof of dirtthat enters thereinto comprising, in combination: an elongated latchstrip structure providing longitudinally extending uppermost portionslocated in an uppermost horizontal plane adapted to be positionedsubstantially flush with the floor of the body, a plurality ofopen-topped pockets in said elongated structure located below saiduppermost horizontal plane and adapted to receive a latch pin of thelading separator therein for selectively positioning the separatorlongitudinally of the body, the pockets being spaced longitudinallythereof with each pocket separated from the immediate adjacent pocket byupright walls on said elongated structure extending down wardly relativeto said uppermost horizontal plane and lying transversely of thelongitudinal axis of the elongated structure, and upwardly and outwardlyinclined walls on the elongated structure extending in directionstransverse to the longitudinal axis of the elongated structure from thelowermost portions of each pocket to said longitudinally extendinguppermost portions of the elongated structure, to provide assistance inforcing dirt from within the deepest portions of said pockets outwardlyof the elongated structure.

2. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the uppermost portions of thelatch strip structure include horizontally elongated portions extendingoutwardly of and along the entire length of both longitudinal edges ofthe latch strip structure.

3. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the open-topped pockets each hasa pair of spaced parallel sides lying in vertical planes transverse tothe longitudinal axis of the latch strip structure and a bottom wallthat is of lesser width than the width of the pocket at any point spacedabove the bottom wall.

4. A construction as in claim 1 wherein each pocket is wholly isolatedfrom the adjacent pocket.

5. A construction as in claim 1 wherein the upright walls which separateadjacent pocekts are provided by an elongated strip uniformly corrugatedto provide a plurality of upwardly-opening sockets.

6. In a railway car having a lading separator movable therein formedwith latch pins to project from its bottom edge, a floor latch stripadapted to be mounted in the floor of a car for cooperation With thelatch pins comprising an elongated strip extending horizontally anddepressed downwardly between its edges to define an open topped channelsection, and means on the strip defining transversely extending latchpin engaging parts substantially at the level of the top of the strip,said parts being positioned to leave the top of the depressed channelsection open whereby material collecting therein can be cleanedtherefrom, the strip being depressed at longitudinally spaced points toform a series of spaced channel section recesses and said meanscomprises inverted channel section portions separating the recess andclosing the sides thereof.

7. The construction of claim 6 in which the bottoms of the recessesslope at an acute angle to horizontal from points adjacent to the sidesof the strip to a portion of maximum depth centrally of the width of thestrip.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,934,697 11/1933 Butterworth 3681,970,610 8/1934 McMullen et al. 105369 2,052,914 9/1936 Williams 1053682,122,950 7/1938 Reifer 105-369 2,390,873 12/1945 Ditchfield 105-3763,063,388 11/1962 Magarian et al 105376 DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, PrimaryExaminer.

US. Cl. X.R.

